Bushpig

Thank you all for the comments, much appreciated. Elderly, I really am not a photographer so just used a basic point and shoot and hoped for the best! Maybe it's just the camera model I am using :-)

And now a few more detail shots with the flash turned on

Well guys it has been a while since I posted on my progress with this one,it even took me a while to find my thread :-) I actually finished this build a while ago and handed it over to it's owner, just haven't got round to posting the final pics. To say he was pleased is an understamement of note, he keeps sending me pics of it in it's glass case and on the mantel piece, kinda makes all the effort so worth it. So before the hand over I tried to take some half decent pics, apologies for some of the variances but thats the differences between natural sunlight and flash, the deep burgundy shade is what it looks like in real life. I am actually really pleased with how it turned out. Thanks for the comments and support along the way, you guys rock. Remember that he asked for it look like it had just come off a good drive through the country so I added some weathering and dirt using Tamiya weathering kits and Vallejo washes.

Fantastic Codger.

You know what, that last pic shows it is absolutely beautiful and it all comes together perfectly. I guess that shows the danger of focussing in on small details without considering the whole (or as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts!) Keep going Codger, you are on the right track to a spectacular result!

Thanks for the explanation, it does make sense and I can image has caused you lots of anguish. I suppose this is no different to what designers go through as they iterate 1:1 car design and as they solve one issue another exposes itself! I am glad you did not take offence to me raising the issue. Have you considered not running the top of the door at an angle, rather just run it at the same height front to back? Maybe you could do a mock up door panel and see what it looks like?

Codger. If I may, can I ask if you have intentionally angled the top bit of the door upwards towards the front (hope that makes sense, what I mean is it doesn't seem parallel with the bottom edge of the door like you would expect?) when I looked at your first pics in post #1171 my eye was drawn to the upward slope and it seemed to create an illusion of "disharmony" with the other panels (to my eye it almost looks like it's creating the sense that the cabin is collapsing in on itself !) In the later pics, the additon of the railing that continues from the rear through to the front brings back some harmony but does then accentuate the upward angle of the top bit of the door. As for the paint and the curves, beautifully done!

Absolutely brilliant!

Wow, impressive work as always Roy!

Gents thank you so much for the positive comments, means a lot coming from the masters! Codger I will do my best to take some decent pics before I hand over the car. Apologies for not posting more, once I get going I just seem to get a whole lot done over subsequent evenings and then realise I should have taken more pics! I will try and do a decemt walk around once it is finished. Roy thank you so much for your generous offer, really remarkable. I did give it a thought for about a half a minute but to be honest I think my mate is going to be over the moon with the fact that his car is finally back in one piece that he really won't mind the painted seat. I have done some weathering on it with Tamiya and Vallejo products and it really does look pretty lifelike. One thing that really did come to the fore at the end of this build was your suggestion regarding the engine mounting position. Where it is most noticeable is where the gear and I assume handbrake levers end up with me having left everything in the original position. They end up very far forward and under the dash if that makes sense, in a real car this would have made it just about impossible to drive! Good old Pocher engineering, they must have done this part after a good few bottles of wine at lunch :-)

Well guys it really feels like I am on the home straight on this one. I'm finishing the paint job on the bonnet and that will pretty much be it done. We agreed that it will be displayed with the mudguards off but I have sprayed them up anyway in case he wants to add them at any stage in the future. Apologies for the crappy pics, just quick ones to show where I have got to this weekeknd

Hey Roy thanks for the pointer. Funny enough I was sitting on my indoor trainer this morning doing a training session and the modeling bench is in front of me. Whilst staring at the car and pondering the issue I finally realised this is actually the problem! You are quite right that the body shroud is leaning away and causing the issue, it's very obvious when viewed from the side. So now I know, this should be a reasonably easy fix tonight. That's why I love these forums, you guys are so knowledgable and so freely give advice to us newbies.